Rich information-theoretic structure in out-of-equilibrium
thermodynamics exists in both the classical and quantum regimes, leading
to the fruitful interplay among statistical physics, quantum information
theory, and mathematical theories such as matrix analysis and asymptotic
probability theory. The main purpose of this book is to clarify how
information theory works behind thermodynamics and to shed modern light
on it.
The book focuses on both purely information-theoretic concepts and their
physical implications. From the mathematical point of view, rigorous
proofs of fundamental properties of entropies, divergences, and
majorization are presented in a self-contained manner. From the physics
perspective, modern formulations of thermodynamics are discussed, with a
focus on stochastic thermodynamics and resource theory of
thermodynamics. In particular, resource theory is a recently developed
field as a branch of quantum information theory to quantify "useful
resources" and has an intrinsic connection to various fundamental ideas
of mathematics and information theory. This book serves as a concise
introduction to important ingredients of the information-theoretic
formulation of thermodynamics.